Five Module 4 Posts

1) Dr. Emily Faries is a First Nations person of Cree Nation from Moose Factory, ON.  She has four university degrees, including a Ph.D (1991).  She offers community-based aboriginal-specific services.

Closing the Gap for Aboriginal Students – a paper which provides a historical snapshot of education for FN in Ontario which includes residential schools. Dr. Faries writes that meeting the education needs of aboriginal students requires a deep understanding of their culture, worldview and historical experience.    She points out that the dire need of educational resources which contain accurate and relevant content about Aboriginal people, their history and culture is identified as a a  major challenge in all FN schools in Ontario.    Three areas of improvement are indicated for Aboriginal students to succeed academically: parental encouragement, positive role models and Aboriginal content.

2) The main objective of the Chiefs of Ontario office is to facilitate the discussion, planning, implementation and evaluation of all local, regional and national matters affecting the First Nations people of Ontario. The intention of basing the central office in Toronto is to maintain a presence for First Nations in Ontario that is non-government and non-political in order to communicate with government officials on an urgency basis.  It was on this site where I first learned about The New Agenda:  A Manifesto for First Nations Education in Ontario which includes reports and findings on numerous FN education topics.

3)  Students Tell Chiefs They Want Language Back Nov. 24, 2011 Wawatay News Online.    Five Aboriginal students recently had a chance to be heard by the Chiefs of Ontario at an education conference in Thunder Bay Oct. 26-27 that featured a student discussion.  The students indicated that  language restoration and retention were the most important aspects to strengthening First Nations education.    This article illustrates their FN student voice.   Key comments from the students:

– FN content in high school is lacking.  “There’s not enough language and there’s not enough Aboriginal people in administrative positions.”

– “the language is losing us”

– not having the language nor having a strong understanding about the history of their Aboriginal roots is confusing to students making the transition from high school on a reservation to university in a city.

– students can feel lost and overwhelmed because they don’t have a strong foundation about who they are

– “We want our language back. The young people want to be able to speak the language. The chiefs need to put into place whatever policies are needed to do it”

– More opportunities are needed to figure out what student  passions are.  “Not just force them to go to school right away just because it’s the norm. If you let them figure it out first, they will do better and get better grades.”

4) First Nations Women and Postsecondary Education in Canada: Snapshots from Census

“Postsecondary education holds widely-recognized benefits for both the individual as well as society. Research has shown that attainment of postsecondary education increases employment and income opportunities and provides a stronger base for communities for economic and other forms of community development. These relationships hold for Aboriginal peoples, just as they do for the population as a whole.

This article explores the postsecondary educational attainment of First Nations women in Canada. While many do not complete high school, there is evidence that Aboriginal peoples return to school later in life and as such, have different pathways to postsecondary education than individuals in the overall Canadian population. This article provides information regarding these and other topics related to postsecondary educationnal attainment for First Nations women.

The article presents data based on the 2001 and 2006 censuses regarding the postsecondary educational attainment of First Nations women aged 25 to 64, including comparisons between First Nations women and men, as well as between First Nations women and women in the total Canadian population. Variations in First Nations women’s postsecondary educational attainment are explored across a number of socio-demographic characteristics such as age, geography, and area of residence (on- versus off-reserve; urban versus rural areas). Also examined are the fields of study most common for First Nations women and the relationship between postsecondary education and employment.”

5) A Profile of Aboriginal Peoples in Ontario, by Noelle Spotton     This background paper provides the reader with a general demographic of Aboriginal peoples in Ontario. It is an overview of some key population, cultural, social and economic characteristics of Aboriginal peoples, based largely on data from the 2001 Canada census.